From the Houston Business Journal… Four Texas markets will be among the first in the nation to recover from the recession, says a nationwide forecast by IHS Global Insight. Austin and San Antonio will lead the way, bouncing back to their pre-recession job levels sometime next year, according to the Lexington, Mass.-based economic forecasting firm, [...]

As reported by the Austin Business Journal … Housing starts may rebound slowly, although they have begun to increase lately, according to a forecast from housing market research firm Metrostudy. “We believe that some of the recent gains in housing starts could be given back during the third and fourth quarters of this year if [...]

The National Association of Realtors® supports Congressional actions to extend and/or expand the home buyer’s tax credit.  In addition to extending the deadline past November 30th, 2009, the amount may be raised as high as $13,000 from $8,000, and the credit may be extended to all home buyers (not only first-timers or those who haven’t [...]

A note from the Austin Home Pro… The Austin real estate market has long been the economist’s stronghold on optimism, because our strong local economy centered in an economically strong state continues to beat the “doom and gloom” odds.  Despite falling home prices around the nation, Austin has held strong.  Due to Austin’s slow and [...]

Nearly two-thirds of single-family home builders are reporting a severe lack of credit for housing production, threatening the fragile housing recovery before it has time to take hold, according to a new builder survey of acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) financing conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “Across the country, home builders [...]

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis just completed a statistical study that ranked the top 50 fastest growing economical metros in the U.S. I am proud to report that Austin beat out New York City, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle…actually I am being modest…Austin beat out EVERYONE!!! While new statistics released yesterday by the [...]

Study Estimates Tax Credit Added 357,000 First-Time Buyers By AUSTIN KILGORE September 22, 2009 10:16 AM CST [Update 1: Clarifies location of Campbell Communications] A new study estimates the $8,000 first-time homebuyer federal tax credit resulted in 357,000 additional home sales so far in 2009. The study, released by Campbell Surveys, a division of Washington, [...]

Austin Business Journal – by Greg Barr The Texas economy is predicted to begin a slow, steady recovery in 2010, according to an economic report released Monday. After a small contraction in 2009, the state’s gross domestic product is expected to increase by 1.7 percent in 2010, aided in part by a surge in home [...]

Washington, September 24, 2009 Existing-home sales in August gave back some of their strong gain in July but remain above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – declined 2.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.10 million units in August from [...]

This morning on the Today show, there was a wonderful update on the first time home buyer tax credit and on the possibility of seeing the credit extended.  There has also been talk of the credit being expanded, but it is all up to several bills in Congress right now.  This video is very worth [...]